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100 wins and historic achievements on Sunday’s statistical horizon

Saturday, 17 October 2020 15:43 GMT

Hitting them for six and going for the big 100: there’s plenty to play for on the final racing day of the season in 2020!

The 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has been wrapped up on Saturday as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took a fourth place whilst Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) retired early on. However, with both of the title heavyweights off the podium, a Turkish rider on pole and an American in contention, there were plenty of big stats to keep an eye on. Be ready for Sunday’s sensational prospect with the ten big facts and trivial talking points.

 

  1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is the 2020 WorldSBK Champion and raises the bar to six in a row. The last time a rider in an FIM Solo Road Racing World Championship won six consecutive titles was Giacomo Agostini in the 350cc World Championship between 1968 and 1974 when he won seven titles.
     
  2. Despite being Champion, Jonathan Rea was off the podium for the second consecutive race. The last time he was off the rostrum in three races in succession was Misano Race 1 and 2 and Portimao Race 1 in 2014. It has never happened with him on a Kawasaki.
     
  3. Rea’s streak of front rows ended at Estoril with a crash. He was only 15th which means he hasn’t taken a record-equaling 17 consecutive front rows.
     
  4. Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) takes his first and Turkey’s first pole position in WorldSBK by 0.702s. It was the fastest-ever two-wheeled motorcycle lap of Estoril and Turkey as a country become the 15th different country to take pole in WorldSBK. His Race 1 victory is his second for Yamaha, meaning he is the 13th rider to win more than once for the Japanese manufacturer.
     
  5. Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) was the first Ducati in Race 1 in second place, giving Ducati a 630th race on the podium and a 948th podium place, meaning they can achieve 950 on Sunday.
     
  6. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) took his second podium of 2020 in Race 1 at Estoril. He could be the first American since Ben Spies at the Nurburgring in 2009 to achieve back-to-back podiums if he is in the top three in the Tissot Superpole Race. He took America’s first front row in WorldSBK since Nicky Hayden was second on the grid at Losail in 2016.
     
  7. Eric Granado (MIE Racing HONDA Team) is the first Brazilian to score points in WorldSBK since Alex Barros was tenth in Race 2 at Magny-Cours in 2006, also for Honda.
     
  8. Leon Haslam’s (Team HRC) front row is the first of the year for him and the 27th of his career. His last front row for Honda was in 2014 at Donington Park when he was also second. Honda is now the fourth manufacturer that Haslam has achieved four front rows with, after Suzuki, BMW and Aprilia and impressively, the four front rows for Honda have spanned some 12 seasons of racing.
     
  9. With just Yamaha and Honda riders on the front row, it’s the first time the front has consisted of just them since Portimao 2011.
     
  10.  With Rea in 15th, it’s the first time since Misano 2011 that he’s qualified outside the top ten – he was 11th back then.


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